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Topic: Aargh!! This is why I don't go to the movies any more! (Read 21833 times)

I haven't had as bad an experience in the theater as the OP, but I'm always annoyed by how many patrons think that the "No talking or texting" rule doesn't apply to them. I get easily distracted by the light of a cell phone screen in a dark theater, even if it's 5 or more rows in front of me, so it's really annoying when I'm trying to concentrate on what's happening on screen and a bright light flickers from a cell screen.

It's like people think as long as they have their phone on silent and no one can hear it ring or chirp, it's ok to text during a movie.

When I saw "Twilight" on opening night, there were tons of teens that screamed when the "turn off your cell phone" warning came up, when the studio logo showed, when the title showed, and when Edward or Jacob first appeared on screen. It was annoying, but I didn't feel like I could really complain since it was opening night and I knew the age group it was aimed towards.

For us, the cost is the deterrant for going to the movies. We have a Regal near us so we joined the Regal Crown Club and use our card for every ticket and food purchase so hopefully one of these days it'll pay off. Especially since we've been seeing many of the 3D movies that are more expensive than the regular showing. That and until recently, one or both of us would have to get up and walk with the boys to the bathroom. Now they're getting old enough that they can go alone.

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Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars. You have a right to be here. Be cheerful, strive to be happy. -Desiderata

I'm reminded of one of my favourite movie-going moments. I went to the Return of the King midnight showing with a group from a LotR convention -- so it was a dedicated group of fans. Lots of people in costume, tissue boxes with elvish writing, etc.

Before the movie started, a knight got up and waved his cardboard sword at us and said, "If your cell phone rings during the movie, you'll taste my blade!"

I've always wanted to bring a Gondorian Knight with me to the movies, ever since.

When I saw "Twilight" on opening night, there were tons of teens that screamed when the "turn off your cell phone" warning came up, when the studio logo showed, when the title showed, and when Edward or Jacob first appeared on screen. It was annoying, but I didn't feel like I could really complain since it was opening night and I knew the age group it was aimed towards.

That reminds me of something funny that happened to me when I went to the local premiere of the third HP movie. I was a big fan back then and I wanted to see the movie as soon as I could. This, however, implied that it would be a translated version (the afternoon version played was for the kids, so dubbed in Dutch, and in the evening they would play the English version with subtitles). Anyway, for some reason I had never before seen a dubbed version of Harry Potter.

The first time I heard Hagrid speak in Dutch, he turned out to speak in an incredibly cute and funny West-Flemish accent. I couldn't help myself: I laughed out loud and literally doubled over in my chair, almost rolled out of it, it seriously struck me as THAT funny. It was fantastic.Cue all the little ones and their parents that were sitting around me staring at me dumbfounded: "what the heck is so funny? " Since the parents, not being HP fans but parents-of-little-fans, had been used to the dubbed versions ever since the first movie. And I was the only one laughing - I had gone to the movie all by myself because my husband was still at work (it was a Wednesday afternoon and as a primary school teacher I was off school in the Wednesday afternoon). My husband then, later that night, ALL night, was subjected to my imitation of West-Flemish Hagrid.

I avoid movie theaters unless I really, really have to see a movie on the big screen.

This month I saw both "inception" and "Toy Story 3."

In the first case, the theater was packed (opening weekend). The crowd was amazingly well-behaved.

In the second case, it wasn't a kid who had behavior issues; it was a grown man! You could hear him talking every few minutes. He may have been explaining things to a kid, but he wasn't even attempting to whisper.

Last December I saw "Avatar." People all around me had their cell phones lit up. I was very irritated. They were younger - late teens - if that makes any difference (having never lived without being electronically connected).

I've had the worst experiences the last two times I've gone to movies--and I tend to go to a lot in the summer. Last weekend I went to Grown Ups--I wanted to see Dispicable Me but the people ahead of me in the ticket line had unruly kids, so I figured an adult movie would be a better choice. Nope. There was a family (4 or 5 adults) and one mentally handicapped kid. The kid could not control his noises and made a loud bleating noise (like a goat) every 5-10 seconds throughout the entire movie. None of the adults ever took him out. An usher even came in, stood in the doorway for a while, and then left--during a part where he was particularly quiet. I think everyone in the audience was thinking, "Maybe they'll take him out in a minute..." Nope. I'm all about everyone enjoying movies but if you can't sit through a movie quietly, I don't care who you are, you should skip the movie and do something else.

The time before, we were at Toy Story 3. A mom came in with 4 kids. The youngest kid wanted to crawl around and she pretty much let him (once in a while she told one of the older kids to "watch him".) He decided he wanted to sit in the aisle ahead of where they were so kept climbing over the seats. He asked to go to the bathroom like 5 times. Two of the kids got up once to get popcorn refills and tramped noisily up and down the aisle.

lol about the Twilight movie, we sat next to a tween girl who gasped loudly (like she was aroused) every time R. Pat came on screen. Disturbing!

We went to a movie with the kids this spring, I can't remember if it was "Alice in Wonderland" or "How To Train Your Dragon". We were in the second to last row and during the previews there was a man joking with his buddies with a few f-bombs here and there.

He quieted down once the feature movie started, and my boys leaned over and said "We know, don't repeat it!"

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Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars. You have a right to be here. Be cheerful, strive to be happy. -Desiderata

people not reading their tickets correctly and just assuming that *my* seat is *their* seat and starting a "show me your ticket - no, you show me your ticket" war... not worth it to me.

Where do you live, Cicero? I'm asking because I've never gone to a movie theater in the US that had reserved tickets. You pay your money, go to an empty seat, and sit down.

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~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Common sense is not a gift, but a curse. Because thenyou have to deal with all the people who don't have it. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I've long since given up attending the movies on a regular basis, purely because of the unacceptable behaviour of some of the other patrons. I was so 'shell shocked' after a visit on 3 January 2005 that it was 4 1/2 years till I returned. Today though I gave in and took the boys and some of their friends to see "Karate Kid".

We were seated in the back row on the far side of the theatre. However, we were still able to hear the ringing of a mobile phone of a couple on the opposite side of the room, not once, not twice, but three times! Each time the girl answered it and had a conversation. (This was on top of the other non-phone conversations this couple was having). By the third call I complained to an usher (why I didn't complain after the first, and definitely the second I'll never know). She handled it very well, by evicting the troublemakers.

The troublemakers didn't leave quietly though (surprise surprise ). They thought it was a good idea to bash each other with their plastic shopping bags as they were arguing over whose fault it was that they'd been evicted (well, duh you're both to blame). The girl troublemaker then went and complained to someone else seated in the middle of the room and sounded completely amazed that she wasn't allowed to use her phone in the middle of a movie.

One they'd gone that just left the 'standard' stupid, rude, ignorant people (adults) who thought it was okay to talk during the movie, the older kids (ages 8-10) from various groups who thought it was okay to stand up at random times, the rustling of the food wrappers...

The manager did give us free passes for our inconvenience/annoyance. Not sure if I'll ever venture back in order to use them though.

If you want a relatively quiet movie experience, go to the first matinee of the day, even on a weekend. Not everybody wants to go to a movie before noon, but those that do are pretty well mannered.

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Double MIL now; not yet a Grandma. Owner of Lard Butt Noelle, kitteh extraordinaire! True fact: Eggs can be just as hard to unload as zucchini!

people not reading their tickets correctly and just assuming that *my* seat is *their* seat and starting a "show me your ticket - no, you show me your ticket" war... not worth it to me.

Where do you live, Cicero? I'm asking because I've never gone to a movie theater in the US that had reserved tickets. You pay your money, go to an empty seat, and sit down.

If I'm not mistaken, Cicero lives in Israel - like me.

BF and I went to see "The Prophet" a few months ago with his brother and SIL. This was at a cinematheque-style cinema that shows artsy films and we have a membership.

It was Friday night, the theatre was 85% full, and a number of latecomers, instead of going quietly to the nearest empty seat, started arguing with a group of people who were seated in their assigned seats. These were all middle aged people. The seated refused to get up, saying that the usher had seated them there. More arguing, yelling, you name it (also stepping on my toes, but that's less to the point). Part of the yelling was done with the door open, so light flooded the theatre. SIl pointed out that they were disturbing everyone and to please be quiet, even more yelling from a 60 year old man! Eventually they left the theater

Five minutes later, two women, also middle aged, show up. They want to get to their seats which are in the middle of the row, far from the entrance. One of them gets everybody up so she could get to her seat. the other starts going around. 1st lady doesn't understand where her friend is, yells out: "Hey, I'm over here!" whilst standing and imitating a windmill. 2nd lady notices that their row ends with a barrier, and walks back around to et the entire row up so she can reach her seat.

I don't speak French, and the Prophet is not exactly a movie where you can zone out in the first few minutes. This thread reminded me of the incident - I totally forgot I wanted to write the theatre a letter about it, as the usher should have been there to keep the peace.

people not reading their tickets correctly and just assuming that *my* seat is *their* seat and starting a "show me your ticket - no, you show me your ticket" war... not worth it to me.

Where do you live, Cicero? I'm asking because I've never gone to a movie theater in the US that had reserved tickets. You pay your money, go to an empty seat, and sit down.

The UK does assigned seating in cinemas. I really miss that. It's so convenient! There's a new fancy theater near me called Gold Class Cinema that has assigned seating, so I'm going to go there for all the big premieres from now on. (They also have fully reclining seats, a full menu and bar, and even bring you pillows and blankets if you want!)

Since I can't watch a movie in a theater because all the movement on the screen triggers my vertigo and makes me motion sick (and I refuse to pay $7+ for a ticket for a movie during which I have to sit with my eyes closed) I really haven't missed the experience. Plus, Mr. Sirius and I both love to criticize movies mercilessly, so if we're going to do that it's best if we get a video and do this in our own living room. (He loves Mystery Science Theater 3000.)

The Pickle-Throwing Incident: (I think I've posted it here before, but I searched and searched and can't find it).

DH and I were in the back of the theater. The lights had gone down and the previews had rolled. The feature was just beginning when in came a family of about 8; I believe 3 or 4 adults and several kids, ranging in age from infant to tween. They entered the row just in front of ours and it took them awhile to get settled, what with all the car seats and such, and the fact that they were encumbered with at least one of everything the snack bar had to offer (and two of everything crunchy). So after several minutes of bustling, discussion, changing seats, etc, they settled in and started with the crunching-rattling-slurping-crackling-munching-belching noises.

Okay, whatever. I hate eating noises, but that's my issue, and even the sheer volume of food they had can't last forever. Then the toddler got loose. A cherubic child of about 2, she made the most horrific clomping noises running up and down, up and down, over and over down the row and back again. Over and over and over, shrieking and giggling all the while. I put up with this for about 5 minutes before I made my way down the row and leaned over between (I assume) her parents, and asked (politely; I don't remember exactly what I said, but I do remember being polite because I always assume people are crazy and I have a firm policy of not poking the crazy if I can help it) if they could please restrain their child; she was very distracting.

OH THE HUMANITY. You'd have thought I'd asked them to have her drawn and quartered. They rose in a huff, gathered up their children and all their leftover food and most of them stormed (STORMED) out of the theater. I was shocked; I never insinuated they had to leave! As they were huffing away, a white-napkin-wrapped missile flashed past my face, just missing it, and thudded into DH's chest. A pickle! The mother had thrown a half-eaten PICKLE at us!!

So the father walks down the aisle toward us, I'm stupidly thinking maybe to apologize? Nah. He said, "That was the RUDEST thing I've ever seen!" Talking about me, duh. But I smiled at him (it was dark, he couldn't see it but maybe he heard it in my voice) and said. "I agree, and I accept your apology."

OH MAN he couldn't get out of there fast enough. I'm just glad they didn't know what we were driving!

How bizarre, though .. it was a matinee (Fantastic Four) but all those tickets and food couldn't have been cheap. They left about 1/4 of the way through the movie. It remains one of the weirdest things that's ever happened to us.

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"A child of five could understand this. Send someone to fetch a child of five." - Groucho Marx

My husband and I went to see Despicable Me (good movie for animation fans) this weekend. We rarely go on opening weekend to avoid crowds and usually hit the matinees. We missed that this weekend. This lady and her son sat behind us. I am not sure what perfume she was wearing but I tasted it with my popcorn throughout all of the movie. I know there is no right way to complain. However, her son complained though about the lady eating popcorn! throughout the whole movie. I am not sure if I was too loud (hard to credit considering the volume of the movie) or perhaps, his mother wouldn't let him have any. I wanted to turn around and offer him some or a lesson in etiquette but refrained.

If I had known the perfume was coming from her earlier, we would have moved, I am usually quite vocal in my dislike of perfumes and scented powders and she had both. Baby powder flavored popcorn is just... awful.